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Feature Request: Time Code display on capture/layoff
Does it bother anyone else that Final Cut is up to version 6 but it still doesn’t display the deck timecode when capturing or laying off? It’s not too infrequent that I get a bad batch capture list or mis-type a timecode number and the deck goes off to find hour 12 on an hour 1 tape. Currently I have to wait for the capture to fail before I have any idea what’s going on. If the timecode was being displayed I’d know right away.
We’re not Apple’s ideal One Man-One Box type users. We’re mostly capturing from a machine room in another building across the street so we can’t see the deck. It’s a little thing that means a lot to users working in a facility.
Anyone else?
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Anthony Dalesandro
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7 Replies
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Well, it bothers me that this is by far the most boring FCP update I’ve ever installed. There really aren’t any new features to play with except all the FX Plugs, which FCP 5 supported anyway.
Everything is about codecs and mixed timelines. Great, but boring. FCP definitely wasn’t deserving of a numerical update. Hardly anything has changed. But Motion of course is that the update was all about. DVD SP didn’t update, and compressor got better. Soundtrack went surround sound and got a big update and that’s cool. Sure it’s all great but FCP really needs an overhaul.
So, yes, I’m quite bothered. I’m ordering the full update to all my Adobe apps in July, and it’ll be interesting to play with Premiere and see how well it works with AE when the new versions are out.
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With the AJA IOHD having both timecode in and out, I think we’ll start to see more features like this. QT7 now at least display timecode.
I’d also love to be able to put FCP in remote or local like I can a VTR deck. It’s not a feature I would use everyday, but I could have used it this past weekend.
Also, I’d like FCP to be able to read timecode breaks without freaking out. Just create a new file and let’s move on with our lives.
-Russ
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I thought this was as big as any recent upgrade. Everything added to the usability of the complete package and for the money you get a lot. FCP is just the core app in the bundle. Think you can find several key features that alone are worth the price of the upgrade.
But like everything else there is room for improvement.
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True. I’m not saying it wasn’t worth the price or anything. And it’s definitely worthy of the “FCS 2” moniker, and I guess it really doesn’t matter what the version number is for FCP since you can’t buy it separately.
But the FCP portion of the whole thing was really a nothing upgrade. Ho hum. No interface tweaks, no keyframe engine redesign or improvement, same old crappy 1.0 log and capture window, same method of saving capture scratch settings (should be by project), and on and on. And really, let’s do something with auto-select. The interface could operate without it if better designed.
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The whole FCS2 package is well worth it. Color, previously a 5k-25k program, makes it worth it alone.
But you’re right. FCP is hardly changed.
They added a codec. A great one. But technically that’s just a Quicktime codec, and they “unlocked” FCP so that ProRes is one of the handful of codecs which are allowed to use RT Extreme.
I’m sure the mixed format feature took them 5 minutes for them to add. All they did was unlock the RT Extreme restrictions on mixed formats. The automatic scaling and such – all that already existed in FCP 5. FCP 6 just unlocked the artificial limitations which allow fast enough machines to display a green render bar instead of an orange one. The work that went into “mixed formats” was so minimal, they didn’t even get the 480/486 conversions right, and they didn’t provide 3:2 pulldown when placing 23.98 clips on a 29.97 timeline (which basically means I can’t use the feature for mixing video and film footage – something I do quite often).
Like you said, no snazzy interface change. Black on dark grey. Its still seems like ancient code (it still takes forever to load – like it was Photoshop 6.0 or something). Features EVERYONE wants like the subject of this topic went un-addressed.
Again, FCS2 is fantastic and well worth the upgrade price. But FCP6 leaves much to be desired. They should have called it FCP 5.5. Remember the jump from 4.0 to 4.5 (HD)? That was way more significant that this one.
Sean
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5.0 to 5.1 was more significant than this one. That’s when FX plugs came into play I think. All this update did was actually give you a few plugs. They’re coo, but actually they’re just the plugs from the Motion upgrade. FXPlugs work in both. So again, nothing new.
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And still no 3D DVE
It’s the little things too, like trying to sort a numbered list (like 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 rather than 1,11,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 etc)
Alan
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